Archives for February 2011

A substantial proportion of youth with severe mental disorders do not receive mental health care, according
to data from a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded survey published in the January 2011
issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Disclaimer: Neither SARDAA nor SA, assume any legal liability, responsibility nor does inclusion of articles or comments constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product or process disclosed in the blog.

Over the past 2 years I have been collecting personal stories of experiences with mental illness for a living manuscript called Glimpses and it is through this project that Minds Unleashed came about. I regularly received requests to include poetry in the manuscript; however I had never intended to include anything other than personal stories and felt it was not the right medium for poetry. Nonetheless people occasionally sent poetry and I kept it all the same. Finally I decided to research the interest in my putting together a collection of poetry and the response in just the first 3 days was overwhelming.

There is a wealth of such diverse creativity among those with a mental illness and poetry is just one of them. Personally I have found that poetry is a therapeutic and safe way of expressing the emotional roller coaster that we ride all too frequently and one that gives insight into our experiences in a very unique way.

Whether you read Minds Unleashed just because you like poetry, because you need to feel a connection with others who experience mental illness or because you are looking for a better understanding of what we experience, I hope you enjoy the following collection of poems.

All poetry contributed to Minds Unleashed is voluntary and for no monetary gain. It is distributed in pdf format via email to consumers, carers, clinicians, universities, nationally and internationally. If you wish to receive copies, please email your contact details for future editions.

Should you know of anyone who has a mental illness who you think might like to contribute their poetry, please have them forward it to me: –

Disclaimer: Neither SARDAA nor SA, assume any legal liability, responsibility nor does inclusion of articles or comments constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product or process disclosed in the blog.